Building an Anti-Racist Vocabulary
The opposite of racist isn't 'not racist.' It is 'antiracist.' What's the difference?
One endorses either the idea of a racial hierarchy as a racist, or racial equality as an antiracist. One either believes problems are rooted in groups of people, as a racist, or locates the roots of problems in power and policies, as an antiracist. One either allows racial inequities to persevere, as a racist, or confronts racial inequities, as an antiracist. There is no in-between safe space of 'not racist.’
Ibram X. Kendi, How to Be an Antiracist
The Klau Center for Civil and Human Rights presents Building an Anti-Racist Vocabulary, a lecture series and associated course presenting preeminent scholars, thought leaders, and public intellectuals to guide our community through topics necessary to an understanding of systemic racism and racial justice. The series is self-consciously an entry point, designed to provide intellectual and moral building blocks to begin the transformative work of anti-racism in our students, on our campus, and in our broader communities.
Watch videos of past speakers here
For students
Building an Anti-Racist Vocabulary is available as either a one-credit or three-credit course for Notre Dame students. The presentations will be offered via Zoom for all participants, with an additional in-classroom component for the three-credit course. Students who do not register for the class are welcome and encouraged to join individual lectures as noted below.
Course registration information here
For the Notre Dame community
Each session in the series will be synchronously available, via Zoom, to any member of the Notre Dame community—students, staff, faculty, or alumni. Join us for the whole series, or even just one lecture.
You must register to attend any part of the series. Registration provides access to all of the lectures, but you may choose which lectures to attend. We recommend early registration, as space is limited, but you may do so at any time during the semester. An nd.edu or alumni.nd.edu email address is required. Alumni who wish to obtain an alumni.nd.edu email address may do so at the Notre Dame Alumni Association, here.
Please note that attendance is limited for each lecture in the series. We invite you to register, but cannot guarantee that all registrants will be able to attend every session.
For the public
Video recordings and suggested readings from many lectures will be available as the series unfolds. Check here for the latest uploads.
Watch videos of past speakers here
Guest Experts for Fall 2021
All sessions via Zoom at 12:30 p.m. - 1:30 p.m. ET (US)
Friday, September 10
Exploiting Diversity
Nancy Leong
Professor of law, University of Denver, and author of Identity Capitalists
Friday, September 17
Anti-Immigrant Lawmaking
Robin Jacobson
Professor and chair of politics and government, University of Puget Sound, and author of The New Nativism: Proposition 187 and the Debate over Immigration
Friday, September 24
School Choice
Courtney Martin
Activist and author of Learning in Public: Lessons for a Racially Divided America from My Daughter’s School
Friday, October 1
Courageous Christianity
Jemar Tisby
President of The Witness: A Black Christian Collective and author of How to Fight Racism: Courageous Christianity and the Journey Toward Racial Justice
Friday, October 8
Athletic Protests
Howard Bryant
Senior writer, ESPN, and author of The Heritage: Black Athletes, a Divided America, and the Politics of Patriotism
Friday, October 15
Workplace Diversity
Frank Dobbin
Henry Ford II Professor of the Social Sciences, Harvard University, and author of Inventing Equal Opportunity
Friday, October 29
Asian Americans in an Anti-Black World
Claire Jean Kim
Professor of political science, University of California Irvine, and author of Dangerous Crossings: Race, Species, and Nature in a Multicultural Age
Friday, November 5
The First Brave Step
Ruby Bridges
Join us for this special conversation with a civil rights icon.
Friday, November 12
Mothers of the Civil Rights Movement
Anna Malaika Tubbs
Advocate, educator, and author of The Three Mothers: How the Mothers of Martin Luther King, Jr, Malcolm X, and James Baldwin Shaped a Nation
Friday, November 19
The Military and Civil Rights
Rawn James, Jr.
Author of The Double V: How Wars, Protest and Harry Truman Desegregated America's Military
Friday, December 3
Educational Inequality
Anna Haskins
Andrew V. Tackes Associate Professor of Sociology, University of Notre Dame, and co-editor of When Parents Are Incarcerated: Interdisciplinary Research and Interventions to Support Children